ASD, the American School Directory, searches for schools by city, state, and country and provides "interactive gateways to each of America's 106,000 K-12 schools." ASD also allows you to find the "ten closest schools to any location" and helps you to find former class-mates. Requires registration. 9-05

"Energy consumption can vary widely from one school to the next but in general, the greatest potential for energy savings comes from improvement of:Indoor lightingHeating, ventilation and cooling (HVAC) systemsWindows, doors, and insulation." 3-02

"Philadelphia eighth-graders at the K-8 schools scored significantly higher on state tests than their middle school counterparts, studies by the Philadelphia Education Fund show. And nationally, crime takes off in middle schools, where it's 30 percent higher than in elementary schools, according to the National Center for Education Statistics."

" 'Middle-grades children in K-8 schools do far better than they do in middle schools,' Vallas said, 'both academically and behaviorally.' " 8-05

"Public schools are ranked according to a ratio devised by Jay Mathews: the number of Advanced Placement, Intl. Baccalaureate and/or Cambridge tests taken by all students at a school in 2006 divided by the number of graduating seniors. All of the schools on the list have an index of at least 1.000; they are in the top 5 percent of public schools measured this way." 05-07

"Rhee closed 23 schools in her first year as the head of the District of Columbia's public schools, fired 36 principals and cut 15 percent -- about 121 jobs -- from the central office staff. And she's making no apologies."

"One of the most controversial programs Rhee has introduced is a joint venture between D.C. schools and Harvard that pays middle school students cash -- up to $100 a month -- for good behavior and attendance."

"An annual report card by Education Week, a newspaper that follows the nation's education system, earlier this year ranked the District's school system last, giving it a D+ overall and an F for student achievement in kindergarten through 12th grade. Those grades were based on data prior to Rhee's arrival." 09-08

" 'These results suggest that we need to be concerned about what the children are breathing while at school,' says Patrick Breysse, a scientist with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who helped oversee USA TODAY's efforts." 12-08

"Using the government's most up-to-date model for tracking toxic chemicals, USA TODAY spent eight months examining the impact of industrial pollution on the air outside schools across the nation. The model is a computer simulation that predicts the path of toxic chemicals released by thousands of companies."

"USA TODAY used it to identify schools in toxic hot spots — a task the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had never undertaken."

"The result: a ranking of 127,800 public, private and parochial schools based on the concentrations and health hazards of chemicals likely to be in the air outside. The model's most recent version used emissions reports filed by 20,000 industrial sites in 2005, the year Hitchens closed."

"The potential problems that emerged were widespread, insidious and largely unaddressed:" 12-08